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April 2010

I had a great time livetweeting the Future of Money and Technology conference on Monday.

Now I've had some time to reflect, and my overall impression is, as it often is, peripheral:

In a convenening of leading edge experts, there needs to be plenty of unconference time. Not "networking," which is also fun but not as crucial to the conference itself; but some mechanism of meeting people in situ and gauging their relevance. Unconference. Location-based game relevant to the topic. Table topics. Q&A of yet more entrepreneurs is a public service and it does allow people to ask questions, but it's just not as fruitful as full-on unconference dynamics.

After going through and counting the number of women on panels as well as black-looking people, Asian-looking people, and the Hispanically surnamed, diversity is still an issue. Representation wasn't horrible (it wasn't good but my expectations are very low); the issue is socioeconomic diversity - particularly in a forum about money. Convening the opinions of financially supported "global" college kids and their sophisticated parents do not make a diverse group regardless of skin color (and increasingly, country of origin). Avoiding groupthink of the innovators is crucial to the adoption of new ideas into new markets.

The second crucial issue of the conference is the difference between new people who have been reading for a year and have been forming opinions that are sometimes interesting but just as often a little bit sophomoric, vs. people who have been in the space for a decade. As always, the latter group pushes against the former's well-meaning obliviousness. And the former may become self-aware to the point they clam up, which is a bad thing because they bring new ideas and energy. It's up to the conference organizers to pull out the true experts, and when this is delegated to the panelists, they sometimes have extra-conference agendas to advance, relationship-wise. Another point for unconferences.

And last, Jim Benson and others have been urging me to find the time to write up the way I look at valuing ROI for intangible assets. The interest it garnered when I was teaching a class was surprising as well. I know it will be helpful. I need to find some reason to prioritize that as #1.

Other than that? The topical highlights

Plenty of focus on community banks that are almost coops

Tying virtual currency to actual currency

Unbelievable amount of focus on mobile as exchange platform - and some things are actually nifty

Microfinance has become a cult (well, ok, maybe not quite - but it's getting there!)

Interesting comments about repurposing bank physical infrastructure

Effort to create exchanges for credit card debt terms (etc.).

Oh yeah. One last thing. #futureofmoney has too many characters for a conference hashtag. If you organize conferences, remember to keep the limit is 5. Throw numbers in and special characters and keep it to 3 or less. How about #F$ ? That would've been perfect!

1. The majority of corporate risk managers are aware of and concerned about at least some aspect of climate risk.

▪ Regulatory risk and its potential costs are of highest concern. ▪ Concern about nearer-term physical risks of climate change is stronger than anticipated.

2. Climate risk management strategies are uneven.

▪ Climate risk is managed at senior levels in some companies, and by no one in others.

3. Climate risk management products and services are unclear

▪ Risk managers are not sure whether liability coverage is adequate within existing insurance products – or may be unsure what exact liabilities will be realized as a result of climate change. ▪ Insurance products and risk consultation services may not be adequate, and more communication between insurers, risk advisors and risk managers are needed to understand where extensions may be necessary.

If you're interested in this topic (and why are you reading my blog if you're not?) go buy it! (Or ask your library to do so, and
then borrow it). It’s got a lot of anecdotes, it explains the methodology HIP
uses, it points you towards data sources… a very useful book! It’s a great gift
for people who wonder how to invest money or time, whether that’s a new
graduate, a career-changer, or an investor or philanthropist.

The HIP methodology makes it straightforward to
understand how to look at intangible assets within an organization and
relate that to financial performance. It will move you past the fundamental assumption of the Efficient Market, and as you can imagine, this jazzes me silly! (How? Why? Well, now it's time for...)

From the call alone -- I haven't read his book yet though I'm eager to -- the "long story short" is that the right hemisphere takes in
far more information and doesn’t categorize it, while the left brain requires
structure and simplicity. The author points out that the perception of our world is, specifically, subjective perception, and he believes that we're in a period of history where the left brain is dominating that perception at the expense of the right.

Because my mother was an artist and my father was a
Scientist (well, a psychoanalyst, but he philosophized about science) I have
been juggling exactly this issue for a long time.

In the field of social entrepreneurialism, we’re at the same
point, where some early adopters love the right-brained, fluid, holistic approach, but where the greater mass of the population would prefer something consistent and codified. ("Should" and "shouldn't" don't pertain; it's simply a matter of dominant perceptions.) Burnt out by “Top 5 Ways to be Sustainable” lists, they know
they need more substantive guidance, but to really understand the field still
requires a large commitment of time and energy, and whether you happen to be
a young grad trying to find a first job or an exhausted, middle-aged doctor, you just don’t really have time for
that.

So if the leading edge of the curve is deeply enmeshed in
right-brain stories, social enclaves, ad hoc TEDxVolcano flash forums, etc., what are
those people who approach managing their money with a “just tell me what to
do!” approach, to do?

This is where I believe the HIP Investor book, itself, shines. The
HIP methodology is used and useful for everything from public portfolio to
angel investment evaluation and management. But the book is a brilliant way to
communicate with those 99% of the people in this world who just want a practical way to integrate their feelings about their personal values with their practical financial challenges. The vast majority of people need a set of
practices to follow that will maximize their financial return and ensure their world is a
joyfully liveable place.